Sterling Heights potholes to be repaired quickly

The Sterling Heights City Council isn’t going to sit around waiting for the Michigan Legislature to come up with the money to fix the state’s crumbling roads.

Council on Tuesday allocated $500,000 from its capital improvement fund so the city can purchase its own road repair equipment.

The city will buy an asphalt sprayer, infrared machine, an asphalt grinder and heavy duty roller so that potholes can be filled and the repairs can be made to last.

“We are very excited because the investment we are making in this heavy-duty machinery is an integral part of a very effective program,” City Manager Mark Vanderpool said Wednesday. “If the state doesn’t fix the worst roads in the entire nation, we will do our part for the people who drive roads in Sterling Heights.”

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Once received in a few weeks the equipment will become part of the Department of Public Works new Pavement Preservation Initiative, added Vanderpool.

Sterling Heights DPW Director Sal Conigliaro said the toll taken on local roads by a harsh winter necessitated the purchase.

“The current process of throwing cold patch in holes and then having to redo them the next day is maddening and not a cost-effective use of resources,” Conigliaro said in a news release. “Purchasing this equipment allows us to move forward using a proactive approach.”

Vanderpool said the new initiative will supplement the city’s “Safe Roads” program that voters approved last November. It provides $3.3 million annually over the next six years to fix city-owned roads.

Vanderpool said the new machinery will allow the city to fix roads at a moment’s notice. In the past, workers had to identity a problem area, which often took as long as eight months. The city then would have to budget the money to pay for the cost of the project, design the construction area and approve a contract.

With the new equipment the asphalt sprayer, with a hard spray of air, removes any loose debris and standing water in a pothole. The pothole sprayer, which can hold seven tons of asphalt, then showers the hole with asphalt. Then an infrared machine goes over the hole and heats up the patch. It puts a bond on the asphalt, which will not pop out when the weather changes.

The miller the city will purchase grinds up loose asphalt that is then blown into joints that have deteriorated.

Robert Hoepfner, director of the Macomb County Department of Roads, said his workers have been using the pothole replacing equipment for years. He said his road crews use the equipment at night when there is less traffic.

He said the equipment is durable and a can be operated by one employee.